Memoirs
September 5th 2009 23:23
My father spent much of his two decades or so of retirement relaxing, gardening and promising to write his memoirs. He had plenty to write about — a tough childhood in a broken home, Air Force training cut short by the end of World War II and a long career in civil service including several overseas postings.
It was a good story which he could have written well, but he never did.
Last week we received in the post a bulky parcel sent by my wife's father. His memoirs. He has dedicated them to his three daughters and the pleasure and anticipation on the face of the youngest of those daughters, my wife, as she opened the parcel told of its importance.
It is a good story which he has written well. But regardless of the quality or even the quantity of content, it is an instant family treasure; a legacy for the generations.
It is a pleasure, a legacy and a treasure that I will never have.
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Comment by Dianna G
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Something that makes me very sad is in my closet. (I live with my grandmother, to make sense of this.) Stacks and stacks of journals that my grandmother wrote while struggling through a deep depression, stories about her life and her struggle and her eventual victory. She wants to destroy them; she doesn't want her children to read them, but I mourn the loss of so much written work.
She's told me that some of the passages in these books, and poems in there as well, are quite beautiful, but that she does not wish to look through them all and find those passages, because it would take a while-there are at least thirty or forty of these journals.
I am forbidden to read them. I hope she never gets around to destroying them-but in the end she will, I know her, it will take a while but she will. It saddens me to see so much potential beauty lost...
I hope your wife enjoys the memories.
~Dianna
Comment by Chris Champion
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My wife's father was a career army man, and the period he lived through, as you say, makes for some very vivid personal stories. Helping a parent write memoirs is a fabulous idea. Good luck with it.
Hi Dianna,
That was a very moving comment. And what a conundrum. I guess you can only try persistent gentle persuasion, reinforcing the message that the journals are valuable on several counts:as an accurate reflection of a difficult time, as a body of literary work and, of course, as a memory of a loved family member.
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Wow. With understanding, hopefully, came some release. So many good things can come out of this exercise.
Maybe I'll start a new blog and write my memoirs post by post. Wotcha think?
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